Nolan sat up in the hospital bed with Leanne on the chair beside his bed, and Valerie standing by the AVR viewport in sick bay as Doctor Risenburg was giving him an examination, "How are you feeling Capitan?" he asked as he was checking his real-time vitals on his tablet.
"Stiff, how long was I out?" Nolan asked as he stretched a bit, Risenburg sighed, "Three days. Gave all of us a scare." Nolan looked concerned, "How's the crew?" He lowered his tablet and looked into Nolan's eyes, "A little banged up, a few broken bones, burns, bruises and a lot of scrapes, but no fatalities." Nolan exhaled in relief, "Good, how's the ship?" Valerie came closer to answer him, "Not much better sir. We just got enough systems back online to make one-third sub-light."
Nolan looked perturbed, "I see. Make sure I get a full report from the chief as soon as possible." Valerie saluted him, "Aye sir!" Leanne looked at Nolan sternly, "Can you not think about work for two seconds?" Looking uncomfortable Doctor Risenburg looked at Nolan, "Good idea, we'll let you two be alone." Valerie nodded and left sick bay while the Doctor saw to other patients.
Leanne held Nolan's hand, "How are you holding up?" Nolan said softly, "Not much better then you." she said as caressed his face, "I was so worried. I... don't know what to do." she sighed as she griped his hand in hers, "You always know what to do." Nolan held her head in his hands and held eye contact with her, "I don't have all of the answers, but i will always do what I have to. To keep you and the crew safe." Nolan smiled and they kiss.
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Engineering was a hive of activity, crew welding new hull plates and technicians working in open panels removing damaged and burnt components and installing new ones from the ship's storage bays. Valerie walked up to a man in a grey grit and oil coveralls with and orange stripe on the shoulders ordering the engineers around in a Russian accent, "Chief! The Capitan wants a full report!" Valerie shouted over the chaos. Chief Michaelson turned to Valerie, "I'm a little busy Lieutenant!" He climbs down from the service walkways wrapping around the muti-story engineering bay and up to Valerie, "We just got sub-light drives working, half of our systems are still down or unrepairable!" Valerie looks straight into the Chief Engineer's eyes, "He wants a report Chief!"
"With all due respect ma'am. I don't have a clue on the extent of the damage!" Chief Michaelson responded annoyed. "It's been three days!" Valerie shot back. Michaelson turns to the half disassembled Hyper-Drive behind them and composed himself as he gestures to his office. Valerie follows him in and he seals the hatch dropping the ambient noise into a deafening silence before continuing.
"That's better. Ma'am Every problem we fix, we find three more, and then it leads to others we did not realize we had. The ship has a mass of over thirty thousand metric tons and was subjected to gravitational sheer forces of fifteen Gs. No one has put that much force on the hull. Not even in testing, hell we never simulated it before. We find new micro fractures and pin-point pressure leaks hourly." Valerie took a breath, "I understand Chief. Just give him what you got then but give him a report, understand?" Michaelson nodded, "Aye ma'am"
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Nolan sat in his bed in sickbay surrounded by his senior staff looking at a tablet with Chief Michaelson's report, 'well fuck' he thought as he lowered the tablet and looked seriously at Michaelson, "Thank you for this report so soon Chief." Michaelson nodded, "Thank you sir." Nolan looked to Halsey, "What is our current position?" Halsey glanced at his tablet, "one-eight-zero by three-four-zero by two-five-four. Just out from the Sun's gravity sir."
"Max sustainable speed?" Nolan asked Michaelson, "One quarter sub-light sir." Nolan nodded, "Weapons?" Lieutenant Greg Forest, the ship's tactical officer, stepped forward, "Primary guns operational, missile guidance systems are still misaligned, four THEL turrets destroyed, all but two have damaged motors and can not move from their current positions, but the nukes are confirmed operational and safe along with the stored ordnance. sir."
"Very well, Anything from Space-COM?" Nolan asked. Major Victoria Diaz, Chief communications officer, stepped forward, "Nothing yet sir. The chief and I believe the antenna array must be damaged." Nolan looked at Halsey, "Sensors?" Halsey glanced again at his tablet, "Short range array is operational, but the long range array has... discrepancies."
Nolan looked curious, "how so?" Halsey examined his tablet for a moment recalling his notes, "We detect all of the planets, moons, asteroids, and dwarf planets, but not any inter-system traffic." Nolan looked puzzled, "How is that possible?" Halsey looked at Nolan, "I don't know."
The room grew completely silent.
Nolan scanned the faces of his staff, with no more comments from them he sighed, "Set course for Titan Station, we'll refit there. Maybe we can salvage this mission. Dismissed!"